Report: Bears hiring DeFilippo as new QB coach, promoting Ragone to pass-game coordinator
The Bears made several coaching moves on Wednesday.
Reports indicate that John DeFilippo, who interviewed with for the Bears head coaching job two years ago, will take over as quarterbacks coach. Dave Ragone, whom the Bears respect as their quarterbacks coach, will now oversee the passing game.
The 41-year-old DeFilippo surprisingly parted ways with the Jacksonville Jaguars as offensive coordinator Monday. His Jaguars offense ranked only 20th in yardage, but he oversaw the development of surprise sixth-round starting QB Gardner Minshew, who "Wally Pipped" big-ticket signee and Super Bowl champion Nick Foles en route to setting franchise rookie records for passing yards (3,271) and touchdowns (21) in only 12 starts, including an NFL rookie-high six wins.
It was DeFilippo's work with Foles and then-rookie Carson Wentz as Eagles QB coach during their Super Bowl run two years ago that vaulted him to the coordinator job with the Minnesota Vikings.
But he was fired only 13 games into the 2018 campaign by Mike Zimmer over philosophical differences, mainly the head coach's desire to run the football more - and more successfully - than DeFillipo was coordinating.
The arrivals of DeFillipo and Lazor, who was out of the NFL last season following a three-year stint with the Cincinnati Bengals, also mean a promotion for Ragone. The Bears' longest-tenured offensive assistant was hired by former Bears coach John Fox in 2015 and retained by Nagy, making him the only offensive coach inside Halas Hall who preceded Mitch Trubisky's arrival.
The Bears' precipitous backslide from 12-4 division champs in Nagy's 2018 maiden head-coaching voyage to 8-8 also-rans this season stemmed from their 29th-ranked scoring offense and the struggles of Trubisky.
In Lazor and DeFilippo, the Bears added two experienced QB developers with 14 combined seasons as NFL QB coaches and seven more as NFL coordinators.
It should be noted that although Nagy and Ryan Pace said at their season-end news conference that they intend on Trubisky starting next season, he'll almost certainly be surrounded with two new quarterbacks, as backups Chase Daniel and Tyler Bray are impending free agents.
Lazor worked closely with fellow potential impending free agents Ryan Tannehill and Andy Dalton, and DeFilippo and Lazor worked together on Chip Kelly's Eagles staff in 2016, when Foles was invited to the Pro Bowl and registered the third-highest passer rating in NFL history (119.2).
If Nagy - who also coached Foles, in 2016 with the Chiefs - and the Bears are interested in the 31-year-old Super Bowl hero, it'd likely have to be after the 2020 season. He signed a four-year deal in Jacksonville including $50 million guaranteed last year and would carry a $20-plus million cap charge next season.